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    Bulldozer ownership question

    I own a place in Robertson County with a lot of yaupon infested woods on it. They range from mature trees with yaupon under the canopy to about 200 acres of solid woods, much of which is yaupon understudy that is only used by birds, hogs and armadillos. I have concluded that a bulldozer is the best option to manage these areas, though I have also seen the seismic crews use the skid steers with mulchers. However, the road maintenance, pond mangement and other uses make a dozer a more efficient and reasonable tool for me.

    Now, I don't have the jack to run out and buy a new one, and I am not the most mechanically inclined person. I have never had any formal training on a dozer and recognize the dangers of working in woods with dead trees, vines, etc. I have a mostly full time job with flexible hours, so I could work on it several times a month, weather and family permitting. I don't think I would run out of things to do with it, which makes renting or hiring fairly costly over the long run. I would like to ask the experts on here that have experience with owning and using used dozers to comment as to their opinion on dozer ownership versus renting one or paying someone to do it for me. Any comments would be appreciated.

    #2
    I don't know if I'm an expert or not but I've owned dozers for the last 20 yrs plus. A good dozer can be fairly expensive to buy and they do require some maintenance which you can do yourself. Grease it before every use and you will save yourself a lot of money.
    Do you have any idea of how big of a machine you are looking for? or what you have to spend on it?
    I have a JD 650 H with cab and AC/stereo, 6 way blade and rippers. I paid 65K for it used, and it will do anything I need to do on my place.

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      #3
      Find a older d8 or d7 cat and get an independent trackshop to check it out for you, Many cats like this are still running strong and do the same if not better job than the newer machines, try to pay about $12,000 to $25,00 for a 1960 to 1970 model, try to get direct drive as well as it is better for land clearing, all you need is a straight blade to knock it all down and then some kind of stacker to pile it all up and burn the piles. You should be able to do yur own land like you want when you want and then sell the machine for the same money you paid for the machine. There was a older d8 14a cat in the Valero truck trader the other day near you for $10,000, might be worth a look, that model is a classic and cheap cheap to operate and find parts for, just make sure you get a good one in the first place, dont trust the guy selling it get someobdy else to check it out and write up what it needs to be a good runner, there was also a d8 36a direct drive cat at TMT (Texas Mexico Tractor in san antonio last week with a root plow on it) it might be $25,000 and i think it had a stacker, there are 2 or 3 old d7 and d8 stakers in my area for sale as most of the big brush is gone long time nowdays. You could get a old d6 as well but they tend to be a lil higher since they are easier to move n and out. Look in rock and dirt and machinery trader and on ebay for older 60 to 70 models, heck sometimes d9's dont bring $10,000 cash at auctions due to moving them is real high sometimes. but if you got it for that and got it delviered for $2000 you could dig tanks and clear your ranch like you want and stll come out on it cheaper than hiring it done. I am guessing the work would cost you $100 an acre to have contracted but is a wild guess as i dont know how many trees/ brush you have per acre and what the going rate for land clearing is in your county, got any pictures?

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        #4
        lots of grease every day = saving's on parts and repairs

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          #5
          Thanks for the replies. Sorry, I should have been more specific. I don't want to clear the land totally, just manicure it by taking out/knocking down the unwanted species like yaupon and small elm trees and leave the big oaks and let the secondary browse like american beautyberry come back so I have a little deer heaven. I may just lower the blade to just above ground level and let it go, not actually piling up the brush but doing it in sections of about 20 acres or so, then coming back the next February and doing a controlled burn that will get rid of some of the yaupon while leaving some and not killing the mature oaks. If I do this, there will be tons more browse for deer and cattle, and less impenatrable thickets where the hogs and coyotes lurk. I payed a guy to do this on several acres back about 2002 and the area is so dense now that I need to do it again.

          As far as cost, I am a tightwad, but could spend up to 40-50G if I had to. However, I want to get the most bang for the buck so to speak, and may not need to spend that much to get one that will do what I need. A big dozer may be too hard to operate between some of the mature trees that I want to leave. However, a mid sized one that could take out the ocasional mature tree if needed would be nice. Also, I dont plan on digging many tanks from scratch, just maintaining the ones I have. A couple have washed out or have nearly so. Sounds like I will need to get more grease! Also, is there an Acme Bulldozer Driving School out there, or do I just learn from the school of hard knocks?

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Not the first View Post
            Thanks for the replies. Sorry, I should have been more specific. I don't want to clear the land totally, just manicure it by taking out/knocking down the unwanted species like yaupon and small elm trees and leave the big oaks and let the secondary browse like american beautyberry come back so I have a little deer heaven. I may just lower the blade to just above ground level and let it go, not actually piling up the brush but doing it in sections of about 20 acres or so, then coming back the next February and doing a controlled burn that will get rid of some of the yaupon while leaving some and not killing the mature oaks. If I do this, there will be tons more browse for deer and cattle, and less impenatrable thickets where the hogs and coyotes lurk. I payed a guy to do this on several acres back about 2002 and the area is so dense now that I need to do it again.

            As far as cost, I am a tightwad, but could spend up to 40-50G if I had to. However, I want to get the most bang for the buck so to speak, and may not need to spend that much to get one that will do what I need. A big dozer may be too hard to operate between some of the mature trees that I want to leave. However, a mid sized one that could take out the ocasional mature tree if needed would be nice. Also, I dont plan on digging many tanks from scratch, just maintaining the ones I have. A couple have washed out or have nearly so. Sounds like I will need to get more grease! Also, is there an Acme Bulldozer Driving School out there, or do I just learn from the school of hard knocks?
            You ought to try to find an old catskinner to help you select a dozer and make sure it has a brush cab on it and always carry a 5 gallon h20 water bucket for fires, make sure you get motor guards too, if you are just knocking to the ground and not stacking just pull the throttle back and start knocking it down, smaller dozers have problems with bigger trees, in land clearing bigger is always better, you can buy 3 old d8s for the price of a used newer small dozer usually, blade width is 12 foot vs 8. There is a book called moving the earth by a guy named nichols that has lots of tips about land clearing and operating dozers in the woods, cat has a handbook in blue about how to figure out how many hours needed to do a job in all kinds of woods. You could also pull a Rome 36 inch disk over the area after you knock the timber and regrowth to the ground. Cleaning out tanks is easier with a larger dozer too especially with hydra blade vs the old cable rigs.

            You could also pull a roller chopper thru it at the same time, they usually last about 5 years before it is too tall to hunt or grow grass forbes weeds due to the sun not reaching thru to grow seeds.

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              #7
              We have a 1969 model Cat D6. paid $25K for it and it runs strong. But we have a good friend that used to buy and sell used equip. and he knew what to look for. Sounds like you only need a D4. We had one of those too once. Bought it, used it for a couple years, and sold it for more than we paid for it. Should be easy to find some deals on some now with the way the economy is. If it has a good belly, good engine, and drivetrain, well used could be the way to go. Now it's not nearly as fancy or nice as a new one that is joystick operated, but it is good for a beginner who is not going to be making a living on it. A few hours here and there. not 8 hours a day all week. it would wear you out.

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